Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met last night with the members of a ministerial delegation due to leave shortly on an information campaign abroad. Some of them said afterwards, however, that they were \"confused,\" and that Sharon and Peres were instructing them to take different approaches. The disagreement centers over whether Arafat is to be presented as Israel\'s Bin Laden or Taliban, as the Prime Minister wants, or as Israel\'s peace partner, as Peres insists. In attendance were Ministers Shimon Peres, Meridor, Danny, Landau, Rivlin, Vilnai, Sharansky, Livnat, Livni and Benizri - not all of whom will be taking part in the mission - as well as Jerusalem Mayor Olmert and Prof. Avishai Braverman. Analysts noted that Binyamin Netanyahu - by all accounts a master in the field of public relations and Ariel Sharon\'s top competitor for Likud party leadership - is apparently not being considered for inclusion in the information effort.



Sharon said that the assassination of Minister Ze\'evi \"crossed a red line and has created a new situation, which calls for a new modus operandi of the IDF and the security services.\" The message Sharon wishes to get across is that Arafat, \"Israel\'s Bin-Laden and/or Taliban,\" is solely to blame for Palestinian terrorism. Foreign Minister Peres, however, objects to the equation between Arafat and Bin-Laden, and wants to emphasize that Israel still sees him as its peace partner. For instance, after Ze\'evi\'s assassination, both Sharon and Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer blamed Arafat - but this was not the message emanating from the Foreign Ministry. One of the ministers said after last night\'s meeting, \"It doesn\'t matter what we agree, the Foreign Ministry does what it wants.\"